It’s no secret that one of my all-time favorite groups is Carissa’s Wierd [sic]. That group has birthed some of the greatest names in music today, from Band Of Horses to Grand Archives. And, of course, Sera Cahoone. Cahoone’s music lands somewhere between folk and country with heavy inclusion of steel slide (played by Jason Kardong of The Wakefields) and banjo. Read More »Sera Cahoone: Baker Lake [Video]
It’s still difficult to discern how a small, often unknown band from Glasgow came to influence some of the greatest names to surface from Washington state. Yet Vaselines are that band, hailed by many yet known by far too few. After all, Calvin Johnson played them on his Olympia-based radio show, Nirvana covered them, and Mudhoney were and likely still are big fans. Read More »Vaselines [Feature Band]
Despite the most subtle of changes, making each release quite homogeneous in nature, Sam Beam’s Iron And Wine never quite stales. Beam continuously maintains a level of skill that is, at least in the simplistic folk realm where he resides, fairly unparalleled. And so it is on his latest endeavor, a double LP titled Around The Well. Read More »Iron And Wine: Around The Well [Album Review]
With Sub Pop, you never really know what you’re gonna get. Were it any other label, that would be a bad thing, but with Sub Pop they have a consistency of releasing great music. And once again, they deliver with Bunny Gets Paid, which hit stores a few weeks back. Of course, it originally hit stores several years back — this Red Red Meat release is a reissue. Read More »Red Red Meat: Bunny Gets Paid [Album Review]
Up against Love And Distance, there is virtually no recognizing The Helio Sequence we once cherished. Gone are the upbeat poppy keyboard riffs of “Harmonica Song” and the super-dance driven electronics of “The People Of The Secret”. Gone are the hip-swaying, feel-good lyrics of “Everyone Knows Everyone”. And there’s practically no trace of harmonica to be heard. Yet Keep Your Eyes Ahead holds its ground as, possibly, an even more profound album then The Helio Sequence’s 2004 Sub Pop release. Read More »The Helio Sequence: Keep Your Eyes Ahead [Album Review]
In exactly one month from today, Obits (MySpace) will release their album I Blame You on Sub Pop. And, much like the label’s true beginnings as a haven for subterranean pop music in the vein of loud, oft leaning toward the obnoxiousness of punk and grunge, Obits fit the frame, square as it may or may not be. As much as the grunge era’s true artists passed me by, I cannot say the same for these guys. Read More »Obits: Pine On [pReview]
To be perfectly honest, I didn’t really care for Vetiver (MySpace) the first time I heard them; at least I thought I didn’t. At the time, they just seemed the standard folk-rock-pop artist blend, fronted by generic vocals. But Tight Knit is none of that. And after listening to it a few times, realization dawned on me that I was thinking about a different band. Vetiver possesses none of the negative terms I associated with the other V band: generic, monotonous, lacking endearment. Instead, Vetiver’s music is filled with traits that make fellow Sub Pop artists like Daniel Martin Moore great. Read More »Vetiver: Tight Knit [Album Review]
Written by Jeremy Ryan
I have always had a very difficult time reviewing releases by bands like Wolf Parade. On one hand, it is difficult to know just how much biographical information it is necessary to write about the band, all the while trying not to lose focus of the material that I am supposed to be assessing. For example, with this band in particular, I could simply discuss Handsome Furs, Dan Boeckner’s side project, and before I know it, I would be elaborating about Spencer Krug’s “classical” music project Fifths of Seven. From this point, I would likely leap to discussing Krug’s involvement in Carey Mercer’s “Frog Eyes” band. It’s a damn slippery slope, but I think that I am going to do my best to focus on what matters here, that being the content of At Mount Zoomer. Read More »Wolf Parade: At Mount Zoomer [Album Review]
Oh god, what have I done? Why have I done it? Actually, why haven’t I done it? I, of course,… Read More »Handsome Furs [Feature Band]
Written by Fense
The animation in the video for “Molten Light” by Chad VanGaalen reminds me a lot of the animation signature of the late 80s and early 90s. You know the kind — gross for the sake of being gross; a sort of, well, faux art. There were plenty of bands from that era that slapped the crap on their album covers — Ugly Kid Joe and Big Black are a few that come to mind. But here, there’s a key “fortunate” element, and that is its association with the great music of Chad VanGaalen. Read More »Chad VanGaalen: Molten Light [Video]
